A healthy, balanced lunch box contains all of the abovementioned food groups to ensure that your kiddie has enough energy to run around during break and after school and focus in class. It will help keep your kiddie protected from any virus that could be lurking in the air. Let\u2019s look at some options for \u2018go\u2019 foods:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Brown\/wholewheat\/low-GI bread<\/li>\n
- Wholegrain wraps<\/li>\n
- Wholegrain pasta<\/li>\n
- Brown pita breads<\/li>\n
- Brown sandwich squares\/-thins<\/li>\n
- Brown rice<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Some options for \u2018glow\u2019 foods will be:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Fresh fruit: whole, peeled, and\/or cut<\/li>\n
- Fresh vegetables: whole, peeled and\/or cut<\/li>\n
- Small fruit roll-ups\/dried fruit<\/li>\n
- Fruit juice<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u2018Grow\u2019 foods will be:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Eggs<\/li>\n
- Meat, poultry, fish<\/li>\n
- Silverside beef\/ham*<\/li>\n
- Legumes<\/li>\n
- Cheese<\/li>\n
- Milk<\/li>\n
- Yoghurt<\/li>\n
- Lean biltong<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
* Parents, please be careful when buying these items. We want to choose foods as close to the \u2018real thing\u2019 as possible. Foods like polony, viennas and cheese grillers are highly processed and very high in salt. These can be given as a treat every now and then, but not every day.<\/p>\n
![\"food](\"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Lunchbox-2-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\nLets build your lunch boxes!<\/h3>\n
Now I\u2019ve listed a bunch of foods, but what does a lunch box actually look like? Let\u2019s build a few:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Peanut butter sandwich, banana, vegetable and cheese skewers, biltong bites and water.<\/li>\n
- \u00a0Brown pita with cottage cheese as a spread and some leftover meat, vegetable sticks, yoghurt, mixed berries, and water.<\/li>\n
- Wholegrain wrap with hummus as a spread, vegetables and silverside beef, yoghurt, apple, mixed nuts, and water.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Yes, I know, these are \u2018Instagram-able\u2019 lunch boxes, so let\u2019s simplify them.<\/p>\n
- \n
- A sandwich is always an easy go-to. If you\u2019re using brown, whole-wheat or low-GI bread you already have your \u2018go\u2019-food.<\/li>\n
- Let\u2019s add a filling – ham and cheese (\u2018grow\u2019 foods); cheese and tomato (\u2018grow\u2019 and \u2018glow\u2019 food); peanut butter (healthy fat with a little bit of \u2018grow\u2019 food); plain cheese (\u2018grow\u2019 food).<\/li>\n
- Let\u2019s add some snacks to those lunch boxes – fresh fruit, vegetable sticks, ham slices, small cheese, peanuts, yoghurt, popcorn, etc. By now you\u2019ve definitely met your quota for \u2018go\u2019, \u2018glow\u2019 and \u2018grow\u2019 foods, and with good coverage of the different food groups.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n
How much is enough?<\/h3>\n
The tricky part is knowing how much your child eats, how long they are at school, and if they have any extracurricular activities after school. These factors will determine how much food to pack as well as how much of which food (i.e., sports after school will require extra \u2018go\u2019 and \u2018grow\u2019 foods).<\/p>\n
The main goal is for your child to eat something every chance they get, for example, after a good breakfast, the first break will only be a snack, the second break will be a bigger meal or a sandwich and after school will be a snack again. If the amount of food and lunch boxes becomes too much for your child, colour-code them, for instance, a red lunch box is for school and a blue lunch box is for after-school\/activities.<\/p>\n
Water, always!<\/h3>\n
The most important component of any lunch box is the water. Staying hydrated is essential for your body to function optimally. Water is brain fuel; without it, your child cannot focus in class. Being dehydrated will affect them during playtime and\/or sport as well. They will start feeling lethargic, possibly slightly nauseous, and light-headed. Water is a must, always.<\/p>\n
Lunch boxes for cold days<\/h3>\n
Now, we are moving into winter and that might change some things regarding lunch boxes. If your child has no problem with a sandwich for lunch, roll with it, but if they prefer something that is a little warmer in temperature, soup in a flask or travel mug will work well. Just make sure it seals tightly, we don\u2019t want any spills. Tea, without sugar, can also be included in a flask, this will contribute to their fluid intake, but water is still the best.<\/p>\n
These guidelines are for making your child\u2019s school lunch as yummy as possible. If you still run out of time in the mornings, have your child help you prepare and pack the lunch box \u2013 this way they also get to choose what they want to eat which hopefully means empty lunch boxes by the end of the day.<\/p>\n
From now on, lunch box nightmares should be a thing of the past. You can finally get some rest knowing that your child is eating healthy and that their tummies are full.<\/p>\n
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Dreading packing lunch boxes, again? And, worse yet, unpacking them as they come back exactly the way they left in the morning?\u00a0 Let\u2019s be honest, packing a lunch box is not easy, in fact, it can be seen as a form of art. Sure, the first week or two might be great \u2013 new ideas, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":304,"featured_media":366119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-366116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-lunchbox-ideas"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/304"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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